1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wheel disk of a commercial vehicle wheels having bolt holes in the region of the wheel mounting face for receiving wheel bolts, which serve to attach the wheel to a wheel hub flange or to a brake drum.
2. Brief Description of the Background of the Invention Including Prior Art
The minimum wall thickness of the wheel disc in the contact area of the mounting face of wheel to flange is determined in the context of commercial vehicles, in particular of those with light alloy or light metal wheels, by the fretting corrosion occurring there, which causes a considerable decrease of the fatigue strength. If it would be possible to avoid fretting corrosion, then the wall thickness could be decreased considerably and thereby material requirements and weight could be lowered. This is of particular importance for light alloy or light metal wheels which require, in comparison with steel wheels nearly twice the wall thickness in the area of the wheel mounting face. A special bolting is required based on this situation in many types of trucks, in particular in the case of dual wheels, and further a change of the track dimensions is effected.
Vachon et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,166,357 teach procedures relating to custom wheel installation. The reference teaches a wheel member with a hub suitable for universal use with a great variety of makes of automobiles. The reference teaches that the alignment plate is of substantial construction so that there is no sacrifice of structural strength by virtue of the perforation of the hub or with the utilization of thinner material for such hub than is utilized in earlier devices. It appears to be appropriate to conclude that such a reinforcement ring would have a thickness about equivalent to that of a wheel and it is quite clear that the sum of the thicknesses of the wheel and of the Vachon et al. plate is much more than that of a regular wheel.